Cartier, Paris

Cartier, Paris

New York Retailed

A yellow gold, black and white enamel purse watch with ‘guillotine’ shutters, Circa 1929

Dial: silvered dial signed Cartier France, black outer minute track, blued steel moon hands

Calibre: 9½’’’ LeCoultre calibre 10HVB with grained finish, movement signed European Watch and Clock Co Inc., lever escapement, 15 jewels, bi-metallic compensation balance with timing and poising screws, Breguet hairspring

Movement number: numbered to backplate 418'767

Case: 18k yellow gold, the front with Arabic numerals inlaid with black enamel and flanked by cream and black enamel decorative panels in the form of stylised spruce trees, two central ribbed gold ‘guillotine’ shutters opening to reveal the dial by means of black enamel mounted gold pushers to the left and right case sides, flat winding crown numbered to side 05'580, case top secured by four gold screws

Case number: case back engraved with geometric monogram E.C.L., case body with hand stamped numbering to plate beneath cover 185, 418'767, 23'172, front and back covers both with hand stamped number to reverse 23'172, 418'767, 185, case with French eagle’s head control mark and punch for Edmond Jaeger

Size: 28 mm length x 41.5 mm width

Accessories: none

The purse watch was developed for use by both men and women and the concept created an infinite number of decorative possibilities, with ingenious forms of sliding, hinged and sprung openings designed both to please the user and impress the casual observer. At a time when the wristwatch was still to gain universal acceptance, the purse watch offered a striking alternative to both the wristwatch and the traditional pocket watch. A modern and stylish form of timekeeper that was ideally suited to the Art Deco period, the purse watch was a genre that allowed its creators to experiment with form and decorative techniques in entirely new and inventive ways. Cartier excelled in their artistry of the purse watch, creating an extraordinary variety of designs that were always sumptuously executed. Cartier produced a range of different purse watches (at least 14 different types have been identified). The cases were made by Georges Larmanger who worked for Edmond Jaeger; Larmanger specialised in the production of Guillotine purse watches. In Cartier’s guillotine purse watches, equal value is given to both their form and function. Their weight in the hand is as pleasing as the smooth, yet reassuringly solid action of their pushers and shutters. Purse watches were produced by Cartier in silver and gold cases. Decoration could consist of engraved or engine-turned decoration or more complex geometric patterns inlaid with black, white or even more vibrantly coloured enamels such as blue, green and red. Striped and zig-zag decoration are the designs most commonly found on Cartier purse watches of this type. The stylised spruce trees found on the cover of the present watch are particularly rare and unusual. Not all Cartier purse watches of this type featured hour indexes to their bezels and research suggests that, those that do, are more usually found with Roman rather than Arabic numerals. A smaller version of the Sac Guillotine, known as the Sac à Guillotine Bébé, was produced by Cartier. Measuring approximately 20mm x 38mm, Cartier London requested a few of these smaller sized purse watches to be manufactured as wristwatches, with lugs that extended either side of the shutters’ pushers.